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WASHINGTON — With gasoline prices topping $4 a gallon, Senate Democrats want the government to grab some of the billions of dollars in profits being taken in by the major oil companies. Senators were to vote Tuesday on whether to consider a windfall profits tax against the five largest U.S. oil companies and rescind $17 billion in tax breaks the companies expect to enjoy over the next decade.

"The oil companies need to know that there is a limit on how much profit they can take in this economy," said Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, the Senate's No. 3 Democrat, warning that if energy prices are not reined in "we're going to find ourselves in a deep recession."

But the Democrats are going to have to overcome staunch Republican opposition to any new taxes on the oil industry. The five largest U.S. oil companies earned $36 billion during the first three months of the year.

Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., will need 60 votes Tuesday to proceed with the oil tax legislation in the face of a threatened GOP filibuster. If he doesn't get 60, he likely will pull the bill from the floor. Only last week, Reid was forced to withdraw a measure aimed at addressing global warming, falling short of the 60 votes needed to advance that legislation.

Taxing the oil companies will just hit families making less than $50k per year to the greatest degree.

Those using public transit may have to pay an extra quarter per ride and people of means will simply stop or curtail the purchases of some non-essential items. The lower-middle-class will carry the burden and the CEO’s of these corporations will just laugh.

At Coretta Scott King's funeral in early 2006, Ethel Kennedy, the widow of Robert Kennedy, leaned over to him and whispered, "The torch is being passed to you." "A chill went up my spine," Obama told an aide. (Newsweek)

Taxing the oil companies will just hit families making less than $50k per year to the greatest degree.

Those using public transit may have to pay an extra quarter per ride and people of means will simply stop or curtail the purchases of some non-essential items. The lower-middle-class will carry the burden and the CEO’s of these corporations will just laugh.

The Repubs will block this tax increase on the oil companies. It appears that these mindless Democraps want to push the price up to $10 per gallon.

They do. They've totally bought into the junk science of global warming, and think they can save the planet by tanking our economy. Not only will they get all those vehicles off the road, with any luck they can actually induce a starvation and get rid of a bunch of extra humans. Straight-line communists.

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In actual dollars, President Obama’s $4.4 trillion in deficit spending in just three years is 37 percent higher than the previous record of $3.2 trillion (held by President George W. Bush) in deficit spending for an entire presidency. It’s no small feat to demolish an 8-year record in just 3 years.

Under Obama’s own projections, interest payments on the debt are on course to triple from 2010 (his first budgetary year) to 2018, climbing from $196 billion to $685 billion annually.